Canada’s blood supply wins top marks in study

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Canada’s blood supply, rocked by a public health disaster in the 1980s when thousands were infected by tainted blood, is now one of the safest in the world, the Canadian Hemophilia Society said on Wednesday.

“We have vowed not to forget what happened and to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” said David Page, blood safety coordinator with the society. “We won’t allow those people that died to die in vain.”

Thousands of blood transfusion recipients, many of them hemophiliacs, contracted AIDS or hepatitis C from contaminated blood and blood products in the 1980s. Many of them died.

In a study released this week, the non-profit group said new screening processes have helped secure the national blood supply.

The report gave Canadian Blood Services and Hema-Quebec—the two agencies responsible for collecting blood—perfect scores for blood safety after new tests were implemented for the West Nile virus and hepatitis B.

“Viral infections, in the minds of the public, were certainly a big problem,” Page said.

“If you note, the grades are very high and we’re saying that it’s extremely safe or safer than any system in the world. That’s very positive.”

This is the third study conducted by the Hemophilia Society since the 1997 Krever Report on the tainted blood scandal, which saw police lay criminal charges in 2002 after a five-year investigation. 

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